This wooden juggling club or exercise club may also be referred to as a juggling pin. It is very similar in shape to a bowling pin or an Indian club. It dates approximately to the early 20th century. It may have been used as one of a pair for gymnastics or exercise, or part of a larger set used by a juggler for entertainment in a circus or carnival. At some time it may have been used with a ball or disc as part of a Skittles or bowling game set. The historical collection of Federation University Australia, Victoria, includes a very similar but slightly shorter club, labelled ‘timber skittle”, as can be seen in their photograph. Another example of very similar-shaped, same-sized clubs can be seen in the collection of Nobelius Heritage Park and Emerald Museum, Emerald, Victoria. JUGGLING Jugglers entertain audiences with their tricks and routines at events such as circuses, amusement parks, parties, shows on television or theatre, schools and parties. Juggles also compete at International Championships to obtain world records, performing as individuals or in groups or teams. Contemporary champion juggler David Cain performs a Juggling History Show that both entertains and educates his audience. His routines date from the early 1600s to the 20th century. He uses a wide variety of equipment in his acts including juggling clubs. EXERCISE Exercise clubs or Indian clubs were used in 19th century Victorian times as part of exercise or strengthening programs when they were swung in certain patterns and movements. Even in the early 20th century workplace a few minutes of Indian club swinging was common practice for the relief of tension. A video clip of an American school room in 1904 shows a group of boys and girls skilfully wielding clubs in an exercise sequence (see ‘Links” section). The 1904 and 1932 Olympic Games had an event called Club Swinging. Rhythmic gymnastics was added to the Olympic Program at the L.A. Games in 1984 where competitors use apparatus such as rope, hoop, ball, ribbon and clubs. The clubs come in a variety of weights and heights and have been used from the mid-1800s until around the 1930s in schools and military institutions. They are decorated in a variety of patterns and colours and some have feature lines or scored rings on them. This juggling club is significant for its association with education, entertainment and sport in the late 19th and early 20th century.Wooden juggling club (or pin, skittle or Indian club). Vintage, bottle-shaped club with a flat, slightly concave, base. Its turned, solid timber body tapers out from the base then in again to a very narrow handle with a round knob joined onto the top. Two concentric feature lines are scored into the wider part of club. It was possibly used in exercise, gymnastics or as a skittle. Sections of the club have two brown painted stripes; paint on the lower strip has been worn off at the base . There are remnants of white paint in two areas, possibly the remains of a maker’s name or decoration. There also appears to be an inscription stamped into the wooden handle but this is illegible. Late 19th to early 20th century.Remnants of what appears to be stamped lettering and painted labelling.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, wooden skittle, entertainment, bowling skittle, wooden juggling pin, wooden juggling club, wooden exercise club, indian club, exercise club, club swinging, rhythmic gymnastics, sport equipment, juggling equipment, wooden club

These handmade skittles in this set appear to have had a lot of use as the surfaces of the skittles are well worn. The skittles have a hole in the top, indicating that they were made on a wood lathe. The game of skittles is played indoors and outdoors. It is a traditional target game or sport and the forerunner of the sport of bowling. A standard skittle set has nine skittles and one or two balls. The skittles would be arranged in a diagonal square pattern and a ball would be bowled towards them, for a given distance away. The object is to knock down as many skittles as possible. These skittles are representative of the traditional games played by children and adults over the centuries.Set of four wooden skittles, cylindrical body tapering inwards to form a narrow keck with a knob on top. Knob has two flat surfaces. The bodies and knob tops of the skittles sow remnants of wood stain but the bodies' surfaces are worn. The tops have a scored line around their circumference. The bases are rounded, with the edges off the floor. The top and base of the skittles have a hole in the centre. flagstaff hill, warrnambool, maritime village, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, great ocean road, skittles, pins, game, children's game, traditional game, bowling, toy

A skittle is one of the pins used in skittles - a British form of ninepins, in which a wooden disk or ball is thrown to knock down the pins. The skittle could also have been used as a juggling prop.A turned timber skittle turned on a lathe. Its widest point is just above the base, and there are three turned decorative features on the widest section, and a round knob at the other end. skittle, entertainment, bowling, juggling, turned, turning

The Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW) plans were produced from the 1890s to the 1950s. They were crucial to the design and development of Melbourne's sewerage and drainage system. The plans, at a scale of 40 feet to 1 inch (1:480), provide a detailed historical record of Melbourne streetscapes and environmental features. Each plan covers one or two street blocks (roughly six streets), showing details of buildings, including garden layouts and ownership boundaries, and features such as laneways, drains, bridges, parks, municipal boundaries and other prominent landmarks as they existed at the time each plan was produced. (Source: State Library of Victoria). This plan forms part of a large group of MMBW plans and maps that was donated to the Society by the Mr Poulter, City Engineer of the City of Kew in 1989. Within this collection, thirty-five hand-coloured plans, backed with linen, are of statewide significance as they include annotations that provide details of construction materials used in buildings in the first decade of the 20th century as well as additional information about land ownership and usage. The copies in the Public Record Office Victoria and the State Library of Victoria are monochrome versions which do not denote building materials so that the maps in this collection are invaluable and unique tools for researchers and heritage consultants. A number of the plans are not held in the collection of the State Library of Victoria so they have the additional attribute of rarity.Original survey plan, issued by the MMBW to a contractor with responsibility for constructing sewers in the area identified on the plan within the Borough of Kew. The plan was at some stage hand-coloured, possibly by the contractor, but more likely by officers working in the Engineering Department of the Borough and later Town, then City of Kew. The hand-coloured sections of buildings on the plan were used to denote masonry or brick constructions (pink), weatherboard constructions (yellow), and public buildings (grey). While MMBW Plan No.1579 does not include many buildings, those that it does show are significant to Kew’s history. These include the ‘Kew [Railway] Station’ in Denmark Street and the ‘Recreation Hall’ and rear courts off Wellington Street. The plan shows the outline of the Recreation Hall, constructed in 1880, at the rear of which is listed a bowling green, two tennis courts, a ‘skittle alley’ and a pavilion. When the Hall was first built, the Kew Cricket Club occupied an adjacent ground, however in 1885 this was acquired by the State Government as the future location of the Kew Railway Station. The Plan also shows a single oval at Xavier College. This oval was completed in 1883. One of the current ovals conforms to this oval’s original shape and position in the school grounds.melbourne and metropolitan board of works, detail plans, maps - borough of kew, mmbw 1579, cartography